Kindle Romance Covers of the Week - January 15th, 2019

Happy New Year, Romance lovers!!

Nothing better to kick off January than some of the loveliest Contemporary Romance covers from the past few weeks. I've compiled some of my favorites, and I see some trends (in what I'm liking, at least).

The Purples

"The Magnolia Inn" - Carolyn Brown
"Seductive Temptation" - Anthology
"Once Ghosted, Twice Shy" - Alyssa Cole
"Wrong Bed, Right Roomate" - Rebecca Brooks

The Pinks

"The Kiss Theif" - L.J. Shen
"Sophie" - Kelsie Rae
"These Scars" - Amanda Heath
"Let Me Go" - Aliyah Burke

The Darks

"Matrimonio por contrado de Amor" - Sophie Rose
"Shadows of Truth" - Tanya Jean Russell
"Serendipity" - Moruena Estringana
"The Consequence of Falling" - Claire Contreras
"Wild Crows: 1. Addiction" - Blandine P. Martin

The Doppelgangers

The new release in this line-up is #3: "Come a Little Closer" by Chrissy Brown. And while the others do well with the same image, I'm loving the contrast and texture in "Come a Little Closer", and the title is the most readable of the four.

I am always fascinated with duplicate images in book covers. In a genre that has such high turn-over of books, it's somewhat unlikely your book will get mistaken for someone else's. But if you're going to pick a popular stock photo, make sure the designer knows how to make it fit the unique mood and feel of your book. Seeing these covers side-by-side is a great way to learn about what makes a good cover design that pops.

Until next time, happy reading!

Kindle Romance Covers of the Week - 30th December 2018

I've said this a few times before on this blog, I'm sure. But I do so judge a book by its cover. That might not be right. Or fair to the writing. Particularly if the author hasn't had total control over the final design of that cover (traditionally published) or struggles to find the resources to hire a great cover artist (self-published). 

But I am totally sucked in (or totally put off) a book by what it looks like. And I don't think I'm alone.

So I'm back doing what I did some years back which was to trawl through the latest releases on Amazon Kindle (they aren't paying me, I wish. I haven't even got affiliate links sorted out, folks) in the past 30 days and grabbing a few of my favorites, which you can see in composite (in no particular order) above. In this case, I filtered specifically on Contemporary Romance, as I'm doing my own tiny bit of market research.

The things that typically make me want to read the back cover copy:

• Font choice and use of font (see above, 'There Was This Boy')
• Color (see above, 'Love You', 'Lost and Found'
• Balance of text/image (see above, 'Romy and Juliet', 'Wall of Flowers')
• Novelty (have I seen this a million times before? See above, 'Dateless' - interesting camera angle)
• Tie between the image and title that isn't the usual generic clinch/abs that gives me a stronger sense of the contents (see above, 'Love Unleashed', First Time Player')

...among other things my subconscious is most certainly doing on my behalf that I have no clue about :)

Alice and Chris: Work-in-Progress Playlist

There's something about the right music that puts my brain just where it needs to be for the words to flow. Every story I write comes with its own musical exploration, searching for songs that capture the mood and emotions of my characters.

Sometimes it comes with surprises! One character, an intense and angsty guy, only seemed to want to come out on the page when I played Adele non-stop. Don't ask. I haven't a clue why.

Here are some of the songs that are helping fuel my current work-in-progress. Set in one of my favorite places, eclectic east Austin, it's all about living through deep loss, found-family, second-chance love, and some symbolism around fire. Enjoy!